HB Performance Systems Inc, or ‘Hayes’, was excited to offer another consecutive year of CSC support in 2011. In addition to technical support and administrative help, Hayes offered students access to new braking technology to potentially expand scope and increase innovation even further during future competitions. Hayes TrailTrac 1.0 is a controlled braking technology, similar to Anti-Lock Braking (ABS), and applicable to snowmobiles. About 50 interested students and industry participants were provided the opportunity to ride the Hayes snowmobile equipped with this technology, and compare ‘system on’ and ‘system off’ modes. All riders, inexperienced to highly experienced, gave positive feedback that they were impressed with the targeted benefits which were improved braking controllability and confidence. This feedback was no surprise for the Hayes team as this and similar technology for offroad power sports vehicles, such as ATV’s and UTV’s, has been in development in some cases for more than 5 years. Other opportunities were also offered, such as during the combined CSCSAE-Milwaukee Chapter meeting, to learn from presentation about new Hayes products and technologies.
In addition to the snowmobile demonstration Hayes allowed a sneak peak at another vehicle throughout the week, a UTV, which was equipped with similar technology (dubbed TrailTrac 3.0).
Students and industry participants involved with CSC are typically more experienced and focused on ‘going’ (emissions and noise) versus ‘stopping’ (braking) by nature of the competition and its history. Perhaps because of the technical similarities and inherently similar engineering challenges, such as adapting complex software control to achieve a desired vehicle behavior, interest in the new controlled braking technology was overwhelming.
Hayes was pleased to once again support the CSC. We thank you SAE, the students and industry representatives, for their review and interest in Hayes and its new technologies!
HAYES is excited about their growth and as a result is actively hiring. Find out about their employment opportunities in the “Job Postings” section of the website.
